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HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



TRACT No. 34— NOVEMBER, 1876. 



THK IVI^KORY P» ^ P» E R S 

VOLUME ONE. 



By C. C. BALDWIN. 




HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



TRACT No. 34— NOVEMBER, 1876. 



to 

^' T H K M A. R a R Y F A^ R K R S . 

VOLUME ONE. 



By C. C. BALDWIN. 



Decouvertes et Etablissements des Fran- 
cais dans I'Ouest et dans le Sud de rAmer- 
ique, Septentrionale, 1014-1754. 

Memoires et Dojuments Originaux recue- 
illss el publics par Pierre Mariiry, Premiere 
partie, 1614-1684. Paris, 1875. 

Tiie .great West was, until a comparativeiy 
late period* under the dominion of France. 
Frenchmen made tlie first discoveries. Many 
years ago tuey made settlements, traded, and 
occupied the country until, with the capture 
of Quebec in 1760, ail the Western posts 
were surrendered to Great Britain. It is 
then to France that we must look for its 
earlv histcy. It is only within a i^vv years 
that extensive researches have I een made in 
that cnmiry. T'lie Stite of New York 
expended a very large sum to pub- 
lish in eleven immense quarto vol- 
umes documents of especial interest in 
that State. For the history of New En- 
gland, New Jersey, and Louisiana other in- 
vestigations have'been made. A quiet gen- 
tleman of Paris, M. Pierre Margry, long 
connected witu the Department of the Ma- 
rine, has devoted many years to gathering 
what V70uld illustrate the foreign history of 
France, especially in America. He has al- 
ready rendered this country great service in 
the investigations already referred to. His 
manuj^cripts, vet unpublished, were care- 
fully collected from all parts of France and 
are unique. The knowledge of these 
treasures could not, but make their publics 
tion much desired. W^ere it not for the 
"Boston Are" this would have been 
done by private hands, but that con 
flaaratiou d'estroymg sueli hopes. Congress 
came to Ihi rescue and appropriated a sum, 
not too large, in the purchase of copies to 
encourage the publication of such portions 
as relate to our own country. 



This plan of publication originated with 
the Historical Society at Cleveland and was 
warmly seconded by Mr. Parkmau and by 
other societies and historical scholars 
throughout the country. 

The first of the nine volumes is indeed 
full of interest. The materials for the early 
French history in this countrv are in sorje 
respeiJts very full and in others very scanty. 
The Jesuits were powerful in the New 
World and their Relations were regularly 
transmitted to the tnother country." But 
the Jesuits were not all the colony nor 
were all the discoveries made under 
their auspices, though they apparently 
desired that it should be so. La Salle was 
the first discoverer of the Ohio, tiie first to 
trace the Mississippi to the sea. The French 
rested their claim to the ijreat West mainly 
upon these facts, and to-day his portrait 
adorns the Capitol at Washington as one of 
the four great discoverers of America. But 
he is hardlv mentioned in these Relations. 
M. Margry has done more than any other to 
recover the history of La Salic. The hacd- 
sonie vo ume before us is ornamented with 
his portrait as he appeared in his younger 
days, with long curls and the dress of a man 
of the world. There is, however, a determin- 
ation in the tace and a restless, dreamy look 
to tl e eves as if the portrait was not an un- 
likely one for the man who, in spite of the 
opposition of all, could penetrate alone vast 
countries, could give his foitune to discov- 
ery, and persist with such force of will 
that he should be slain by his own men m a 
pathi'ess wilderness, thousan s of miles from 
even the settlements of his own countrymen 
in tne Western world. 

The earlier papers in the volume relate to 
the RecoUets — the "first missionaries of the 
West and South, in North America." They 



THE RF^C()l>LETS- INDIAN TRADE. 



were professedlj' poor and plain. They hast- 
ened to the new hind and establislied a con- 
vent at QuL'bec and posts at other places. The 
Jesuits came over alter, partly on their invi- 
tation, and in the end very decidedly turned 
thcni out of Canada. The second, and iartrer 
pap^r, is a meuioir deiiiiins; relief for them 
from the obstacles placed in their way by 
the. Jesuits, and the Government of Canada 
couirollcd l)y that order. There seems to 
have been danger that in a few years there 
would not be a Kecoiiet in Canada. This 
strife between the rehsrious .sects deserves a 
paper of its own. The Jesuits, ar first, cer- 
taiiily very devout and self-sacrificinji men, 
and sometimes martyrs, were too devoted to 
the success of their order, and the Colo- 
nial GovernmeMt was bamj-ered by 
them. The Government at home 
opposed them secretly and not openly, 
llecolels were meant to be enconrajfed to 
offset them The Count de Front eoac in 
bis letters wrote earnestly a<rainsc them in 
cipher, praising tbem in other parts of the 
same letter which might fall under their 
eyes. In a later paper from him in this 
volume are presented his views Avith much 
earnestness and in plain French. He 
sketches their povver and possessions, their 
hostility to the Recollets, and accuses them 
of a want of ficleiity to the King. "This 
gener "l animosity against all the most faith- 
ful servants of tlie King shows well enough 
their de.signs." "They would not allow the 
Recollets," says be, "to hear confession or 
administer sacrament." He had charged 
them in a previous letter with 
caring U'ore for beavers than for 
souls. "They had opposed," says Fron- 
tenac, "the sale of lirandy to the Indians, 
without which the fur trade could not be 
successful and now even opposed the sale of 
wine, to place a new yoke on the people." 
It -was common knowledge that they took 
directly or indirectly the manaKcmenl of 
everytbinir, and used for that purpose a pow- 
erful espionage. The.v did not teach the 
InJians French lest they snould become 
friends of the civi' power. A vocabulary 
for Indian use defined equal " the Black 
Robe (Jesuit priest) is equal to Onontio (In- 
dian name for the Governor of Canada)." 
They told other savages that they were the 
masters of Onontio. And in truth they do 
not seem in saying that to have very'vio- 
lently stretched the truth 

Two pajters present a liv-elv pic'ure of the 
commercial strife with the Dutch for the 
trade of tlie Indians. The Iroquois had killed 
the heaver south of the lakes and were get- 
ting thtm from the North and Northwest 
and selling ihem at Albany and at better 
prices than the French had paid. The whole 
volume shows the projects for extension of 



Western and Southern trade by the unknown 
river Ohio and the unknown river Missis- 
sippi, even to the "Mer Vermeio," Gulf of 
California, and in other directions. Such 
were the motives held forih to the King for 
such expeditions as were made by La Salle, 
thougli Lu Salle himself seems to have been 
actuated by an innate love of adventure and 
discovery such as very few men have ever 
had. 

Pase 170, Lake Erie is mentioned in 1671 
as called by the savasres "Tedaronkion." 

Temperance men will find in the volume 
an interesting discussio'i concerning the 
sale of brandy to the Indians, and the views 
of various persons are presented much in 
the manner of witnesses in a Congressional 
commission, with the usual diversity of opin- 
ion. 

There appear the "Details of the voyage 
of Louis Jolliei," who visited in 1073 the 
Mississippi, having departed from Quebec by 
order of Frontenac to discover the South 
Sea. His map is mentioned, which we hope 
M. Margrv will i)ublish. 

The interest of the volume centers in La 
Salle. Although in aver}' early day he dis- 
covered the Ohio, but little has been known, 
or in fact is now, of the particulars. I pur- 
posely omit discussion of this journey. In 
this volume a|,>pears much history of La 
balle, his plans, expenses, drafts 
upon his family and friends, how 
lie built upon Lake Ontario 
and planned to build upon Lake Erie and 
further west; how he built on the Niagara 
river, on the river St. Joseph in the south- 
west part of Michigan, and away within the 
wilds of Illinois, among the tribe of that 
name, the fourth fort, Crevccoeur. An in- 
terestinsr memoir is that of a friend or the 
Abbe de GaUinee relating, from the infor- 
mation of La Salle himself, the particulars of 
his journey with the Abbe, including 
accounts of the Indian trilies and their 
manners. In 1009 Gallinee, Dollier,and La 
Salle left Montreal to seek the Ohio known 
by report. They turned toward its source, 
but the Iroquois dissuaded the two priests 
from the journe,y,much to the dissatisfaction 
of La Salie, and the party turned to the north 
ofLakeErie. The report of Abbe (Gallinee 
of this journey is also in this volume. From 
it we extract but a single word, Paouitiko- 
ungraentaouak, the Algonkin name for the 
Chippeways. The feelings of La Salle were 
with the Recollets They were first; the 
Jesuits came after (says the memoir), and 
the Recollets gave them half their house. 
The Jesuits shortly got the other half and 
the Recollets had hard work to gel it back. 
The Jesuits were established in Quebec, 
"where they are absolute masters" 
L'Evesque(lhe Governor) was their creature 



THE JESUITS-a.A SALLE. 



and would do nothing without them. La 
Salle complaine that the Jesuits sought to 
control trade. One Indian said that "when 
the Black Robes were among us we wor- 
shipped God, but when there were no more 
beavers we see them no more." The Jesuits 
disliked La Salle very much. Frontecac in 
this volume (page 323) says "their design, as 
it appeared in the end, was to set a trap 
whicliever path I took, or to derange every- 
thing, to place the country m disorder 
from which they would not hesitate to 
profit, and to ruin M. de la Salle." ''He 
has become the object of their envy and 
aversion." This enmity wa^ no doubt much 
prompted by their pious zeal. They had 
made discoveries. Their map of Lake Su- 
perior of 1671 was almost wonderful They 
were searching for the Mississi|)pi ,and their 
schemes of power, wealth, and dominion, 
for their order in the great valley of North 
America, may have been as grand and mag- 
nificent as those of La Salle for his King. 

The paper lets us into such lively views of 
the times as are not given in ordinary his- 
tory, and we see how, after all, love of gain, 
love of power, and joalf^usy of others in- 
fluenced history in such solitu'^'es as would 
seem to be free from such disturbing ele- 
ments if any fretdum could be found. 

The most valuable paper of the volume is 
called a "Relation of the Discoveries and 
Travels of Sir de la Salle, Lord and Gov- 
ernor of Fort Frontenac, beyond the greur, 
lakes of New France, made by order of M. 
Colbert, 1679-80-81." It is a narrative cov- 
ering 150 pages of the events of those years, 
and probably the official report made after 
the return of La Salle to Montreal. In 1677 
La Salle was in France. He was already 
famous and of influence. His scheme was 
vast. He wanted to penetrate to the great 
valley of our continent and lay there the 
foundation of powerful colonies "in a 
country temperate in climate, rich and fer- 
tile, and capable of a grand cmmerce." 
Such hold of the continent would betaken 
that, at the next war with Spain, France 
could oust her in North America. 
In the commencement of 1679 he built the 
Griffin, the first vessel navigatng Lake 
Ene, meeting some opposition from* the 
Iroquois, but less because ihat nation 
was at war beyoud Lake Erie. The 
early part of the story is well known from 
other sources, but 'he narrative of La Saile's 
travels after he left Fort Crevecoeur and 
parted with the expediiion to the North has 
never been told so completely as here. We 
wish we could present the whole paper to 
our English readers, but we cannot follow 
in detail the straight, business-like story of 
adventure, travel, description of countries 
and Indian nations, contests, diplomacy, 



discouragements and perseverance. The 
Iroquois traveled from their homes in Ne"' 
York all through the West, and it was dan- 
gerous to take sides or not to. They were 
then fighting the Illinois and the Miahiis. 
First living south of Lake Ontario, the best 
armed and most warlike tribe in America, 
they defeated and exterminated (says 
our memoir) all their neighbors. 
They bore their arms to the 
Guli of St. Lawrence, to the North Sea, in 
Florida, and even beyond the river Missis- 
sippi. They have (says the writer) in thir- 
ty years destroyed over 600,000 liyes, and 
made desert most of the country round the 
great lakes. 

La Salle had expected the Griffin with sup- 
plies for his journey down the river. He 
never saw the vessel again. She was lost, 
he believed by treachery, and he must 
return for succor. Early in 1680 he 
reached St. Joseph. He found two men 
whom he hd sent around the lake, but 
they did not find the Griffin. Arrived at 
length at Niairara, he found he had also 
lost a snip with supplies from France. He 
reached Montreal, May 6th, 1680 His cred- 
itors had siezed his property and 
his resources seemed entirely wasted. 
On his return to Frontenac he 
learned by letter from Tonty that his men 
left at Crevecoeur had deserted after de- 
str jying|thefort, carrying away whatproper- 
tv they could and destroying the balance. 
They destroyed Fort St. Joseph and also 
seized La Salle's property at isiiagara. He 
was not disheartened. He started to succor 
Tonly and save if he could the vessel build- 
ing on the Illinois with which he meant to 
descend to the sea. November 4ih, 1680, he 
reached the mouth of the St. Joseph. The 
Irociuois nad fought the Illinois, and as he 
approached Crevecoeur there were only 
scenes of death and devastation. When he 
reached that post he found it silent; the 
planks of his vessel were there and on one 
of them was written, "Nous sommes tous 
savages ce 19 A — , 1680" — we are all sav- 
ages. Was it orophetic that he had named 
the fort Crevecoeur (Broken Heart). The 
romantic interest of the relation is here at 
its height, but La Salle does not stop to dwell 
upon the picture. His first thought was, 
did the A mean Aout or Avril, August or 
April. He wished to find the faithful 
Tonty. Tonty's fate appears pa''t~ 
ly in this relation and partly 
his ' subsequent memoir in ti. 
volume. Not the Jesuits alone regarded 1 
Salle with jealousy. The Iroquois wef 
without r'iason fearful that the TV 
tribes would be armed against them vf- 
arms and other assistance, -and that f 
trade in the West would draw from 



6 



lA SALLE— HENNEPIN. 



own profits willi tiie Dutch and Eniilish. 
While Tonty Wiis absent the deperlion had 
taiien place. Afior he reiurned be was cap- 
tuied l)y the Iroquois. 

In May, Kisi. atler unsuccesoful search 
and hatd l.ibors, i)iiildin2 up Indian succors 
and sircngtli. La Salk' lelt the fort on the St. 
Joseph for Michiliiuackinnc,\viicre he found 
Tonty and Father MenU)ie. They returned 
10 Frontenac, and this [.aper is the relation 
to that time. 

Of his new, wonderful rejurrcction of 
recourses and eventual success we do not 
speak, allhouiih a new and brief relation of 
it from information of his brother is also in 
this volume. 

The resolute will and wonderful power of 
La SaKe appear nowhere so stront^ly as in 
the narrative we have quoted. Tliere seems 
almost a direct triumph of will over every 
opposition, of mind over matter. This is 
the fullest, most explicit; and valuable ■ac- 
count of this series of expeditions. By 
whom was it commitred to wriiinLrV Evi- 
dently by some one fully informed and from 
notes made day by day, wiili dales as 
in a diary. This, as well as the expedition 
of 1682, wdiereln he descended the Missis- 
sippi, Ware made under the commission of 
1678, ^'herein the Kins wa^ ur.iciously 
pleased to pfM'mit Ln Saile to discover these 
new lands (provided he did it at his own ex- 
]iense. Tlieoliicial leport of the last expedi- 
tion was made by Father Zenolie Membre. 
a Recollet. See La Salle's memoir to 
Seiiinclay, in Falconer's Mi.ssissipoi and 
Oreiron, which leaves it almost doubt fid 
whether La Salle did not mean to say thai 
Membre wiote the oflicial report of all his 
expeditions under the leave of 16TN. Mem- 
bre was with La Salle in the first oue, and 
it seems p/oltable that he drew this report. 
It ends with the embarkation of La Saile 
on Lake Ontario for Mona-eal, the la.st 
of AuiTust, 1681, and then adds the hope that 
the end of the year 1682 will tiud the dis- 
covery of the mouth of '.he Mississippi 
made. 

Some parts of the repori relating to those 
parts of the journey where Ilenn'cpin wa.s 
present bear a sirikiniT resemblance to his 
first book, published in 1684. I translate, 
for instance, from paize 440. The two re- 
ports are word for word the same, except 
^. where dUerences are marked, this report as 

'-.^Aand Hennepin as 2. 
coQimfThe Steur de La Salle could not buHd a 
trade -que at Fort de Froutenuc becau.se of a 
the he. a>re of two leagues at the great fall of 
ting thenra. withtmt which one could sail in a 
aud seliin-essej to Fort Frontenac to tiie bottom 
prices thavj (lllinMs. 1) (Dauphin, 2) tjy the lakes 
volume si are with reason called fresh water 
The great river of St. Lawrence takes 



its origin from several great lakes, among 
which are five of an extraordmary size, and 
wliich are badly laid down in the printed 
maps. These lakes are (1. Lake Superior, 
the Lakeof the Illinois, tiie Lake of the Hu- 
rons, the Lake Erie, the Lake Frontenac); 
(2, the first Lake de Conde, or (Tracy, 
second. Lake Dauphin or of the Illinois, 
the third, Lake of Orleans or of the Hu- 
rons, fourth, Lake de Conty or Erie, and 
fifth, Ltike Ontario named de Frontenac.) 
They are all of fresh water and verv good 
to drink, abounding in fish and surround- 
ed l)y fertile lands. With the exceptiou 
of the first, navigation is easy in sum- 
mer even for large vessels, hut diflicult in 
winter Itecause of the strong winds which 
blow there." I might continue the parallel 
at some length. The account of Hennepin's 
journey among the Sioux bears a similar ver- 
bal similarity. On page 478 of this volume 
appears the l)effinning of that part trans- 
lated by Mr. Shea in his r>isnovery 
of the Mississiotii, and continuinii 
for four or five page.; Hennepin, 
however, calls the Mis.sissippi "(Jolbert " 
By very far the larger part of ihe repori; 
bears no resemblance to Hernepin. Hen- 
nepm was not above cop.int; the report had 
he wished to do so for his lioik. Mucli of 
liis second book was cop^d from the sup- 
pressed Le Clercq Siii! I cannot but think 
that those Darts of the paper which have 
much resemblance to Hennepin bear his 
mark. His egotism and desire for promi- 
nence are apparent. 

"The Fallier Louis Hennepin offered him- 
self to make this journey" (to the Sioux,) 
■'to commence acquainiance with nations 
among whom he had thought he would 
go soon to establish him.selt in preach- 
ing the faith. " 

Pa2;e 440. The carpenters are said to have 
been sent to Niagara under the charge of 
La Motte and Father Louis Hennepin. In 
other accounts it is said La Motte had 
change. 

Page 444. The carpenters would have 
been frightened awav by the Senecas if La 
Salle and Father Louis had not taken pains to 
reassure them. There are examples of the 
vanity characteristic of Hennepin's book 
3|uickly noticed by anyone w'.io has read 
Mr. Siiea's excellent bibiiographical sketch of 
that work. The differences are sugges'ive. 
In Hennepin the account is occasionally en- 
larged by introduction of other matter as 
it by atte- thought. The forms of the names 
of the lakes bear the stamp of the wilder- 
ness Su|)erior, of the Illinois, of the Hurons. 
Erie, in Hennepin called in compliment 
to Frenchmen, de Conde or Tracy, 
Dauphin, d'Orlcans, de Conty. 

Hennepin's own name is in this paper 



HENNEPIN— TONTY; 



Henpin, while La Saile in his letters calls 
him Hempin. Henpin was not unlikely the 
original, euphonised by speech into Hempin 
and by himself to the more musical Hen- 
nepin. 

At the time this relation was made Henne- 
pin had returned from his captivity, and he 
probably furnished his repoit in writinir, 
used by his brother RecoUet in a friendly 
spirit. He very liKely met La Salle himself, 
who writes, in Au<;ust,lo a friend in France, 
that Hennepin was about to s:o to France; 
that he would not hesitate to exaggerate; 
"it is his character," and he speaks "nearer 
what he wishes than what he does." t 
doubt not the report cf Hennepin was quite 
cut short in Ibis paper; in fact,itso apoej'rs. 

Followin2: this relation is the recital from 
Nicholas de la Salle of the discovery of th'j 
mouth of our areat river, in 1683, and the 
return to Quebec. Nest is a "eneral rela- 
tion of the enterprises of La Salle from 1678 
to 1683 made by Tonty, who^e nickname, 
"Main de fer," — hand of iron — rcudnds 
one of the knights of old whi e his heart was 
as stout and trusty as bis hand — a real 
hand of iron, by the way, found by more 
than one Indian to give a verj^ heavy blow. 
Tonty was successively commander at Ni- 
agara, Crevecoeur and Fort St. Louis, and 
desc ended the Mississippi with LaSalle. The 
contents of these 600 pagas cannot be made 
known in a review. Their value consists 
mainly in the more complete variety and 
perfect knowledge which they givu of these 
great enterprises of which we had some pre- 
vious knowledge. Their apparent value in- 
creases by comparison with less authentic 
and particular accounts. LaSalle is by all 
means the most prominent figure in interior 
discovery. We have indicated how vast his 
plans. His life was romantic, his death 



tragic. In later times claims to large terri- 
tories were made under hisdi'^covenes. The 
Fiench claimed u; der that right even the 
0"iio and the forts at Pittsburg and Erie, 
wrested from them by the English. Still 
later the population, French by extraction, 
leaned to the United States in the Revolu- 
tionary war and made easy such occupation 
and control as gave the United States tl e 
Northwest Territory. In siil! later limes, 
when our Northwestern boundary was dis- 
Duted, La Salle's doings were discussed as if 
on them turned the fate of vast territory. 

We say then that we feel under great ob- 
ligation to M. Margry who, with patriotic 
care, has collected and preserved 
much valaable matter; and we werj 
before this publication much indebted 
for the liberal use of his treasures he has 
permitted to Americans. While it has given 
the public a foretaste of his riches, it has 
stimulated that patriotic zeal which makes 
the student of history desire access to the 
original authorities, so that he can see for 
himself the original and life-like records of 
the times. The English reader cannot better 
estimate the value of this volume than to 
see how often ia the Discovery of the Great 
West these unpublished treasures have been 
to Mr. Parkman his best and frequently his 
only guide. The early maps which accom- 
pany these and other relations have not been 
yet pul)lished We hope M. Marsry may 
be able to furnish them. Some of the early 
manuscript maps are vastly in advance of 
those published. On seeint, them, one has 
a profound respect for the discoverers, 
somewhat, it must be confessed, at the 
expense of the early geographers. 

Some of the best and clearest evidences of 
what was done and known, artse/from the 
maps. ' 



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